Business

Ample peanut harvest likely to bring spread prices down

Stalks of celery may see bigger dollops of peanut butter this winter as the cost for a jar of the spread may fall. (Associated Press file)

Choosy moms and dads may be packing more PB&J in lunches this winter, when the cost of a jar of Jif or Skippy is expected to fall even as other grocery prices rise.

Peanut-butter prices soared last year after a drought and high heat in the Southeast, where most peanuts are grown. This year, that region got a break while farmers in most of the rest of the United States suffered huge losses in the widest drought in decades.

Farmers are now expected to bring in two-thirds more peanuts than they did in 2011. That could mean a price drop at the grocery store.

"After last year's small crop, we saw peanut-butter prices on average rise 30 percent or more," said Patrick Archer, president of the American Peanut Council. "With this year's excellent crop, the supply and demand should come back into balance and peanut-butter prices should come back to a more normal level at the retail level."

A 10 percent decrease on a $3 jar of peanut butter, for example, would translate to a savings of 30 cents. That may seem nominal, but the impact is greater for food banks and other big buyers.

"If costs go down 10 percent or 20 percent, we can buy that much more product," said Bill Bolling, founder and executive director of Atlanta Community Food Bank.

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